Current attention to environmental concerns has caused an increase in efforts by industry to produce products which are less harmful to the environment. A part of these efforts are directed at reducing the volume of plastic containers being disposed of. Manufacturers of detergents, and the like, are endeavoring to produce more concentrated products to reduce amount and size of plastic containers and to also market products which encourage the use of refillable containers. This generation of new and improved products has intensified the need for a refillable container with a high accuracy selectable volume liquid dispenser measuring system.
There are many various types of containers with liquid measuring and dispensing systems disclosed in prior art. Most are either too complex to economically market or not acceptable to the user due to the complexity and difficulty in operating. Some of the dual compartment container systems, with both reservoir and dispenser compartments, require tricky tilting or other manipulations of the container to allow measured volume dispensing and are not capable of dispensing a selectable measured volume of fluid.
Squeezable container dispensing systems, that are designed so squeezing the container will force fluid up through a tubular passage into a separate but attached dispensing chamber, dispense relatively accurate measured volumes of fluid. The need for continually squeezing the container to fill the dispensing chamber, especially when the fluid level in the container is low, creates difficulty and is also time consuming and sometimes frustrating.
Some plastic containers for liquid soap and similar fluids utilize closures of the push and pull type for dispensing their contents. These closures are designed for the consumer or user to pull up on the top portion of the closure to open the container. The container is then turned upside down so that it may be squeezed to dispense the contents. When turned right side up, the top portion of the closure is pushed down to close the container.
In the above described dispensing system, the user must utilize both hands to open the closure, one hand to hold the container down and the other hand to pull up on the top portion of the closure. The remaining steps of the above described rather long sequence requires the use of only one hand.
In using these squeezable containers, another problem occurs as the contents of the container decreases to a point where a person must hold the container upside down for a longer period of time while shaking and squeezing to get the remaining contents out. Most often the consumer throws away the container and its remaining contents rather than taking the additional time required to empty the container. Throwing good liquid soap or other products away is not only wasteful but costly to the consumer.
Additionally, the amount of fluid being dispensed for each intended use can not be easily measured in the push and pull type closure dispensing systems. The only way a measurement can be made is to dispense the contents into some type of measuring cup. Most users just guess at the amount of fluid they need to dispense as they squeeze the container, since they don't want to take the time and effort associated with locating and using a separate measuring cup. Because of this, little control is maintained over the amounts of the product a person uses for similar jobs. Also, there is variation between users for similar jobs. Using too little of the product will result in not getting the job done right, while using too much will also adversly affect the job and is wasteful and costly.
The need exists for an economical, simple to operate, refillable container with a selectable measured volume liquid dispenser.